Most People Probably Pay Less for Home Broadband Than We Think

It always is difficult to ascertain what “most” consumers actually are paying for home broadband service, partly because people choose a range of plans (faster speeds cost more); partly because many buy service only in a bundle, so there is not actual discrete and identifiable cost. 

In the U.S.  market that is a pronounced issue, as an estimated 70 percent of home broadband services are purchased as part of a bundle. So most of the market arguably buys home broadband in a way that obscures the actual cost. Only about 30 percent of buyers choose a service with a clear recurring price. 

Platform	Typical Speeds	Data Allowance	Monthly Price Range	Common Characteristics
Satellite	~25–30 Mbps download ~3–5 Mbps upload	10–20 GB/month (with some unlimited options at higher prices)	~$75–$85	Mainly chosen in rural or remote areas; higher latency and data caps are common; plans often come with extra fees for overage.
Cable TV	~100 Mbps (often scalable to 200+ Mbps in some markets)	Unlimited data (with occasional fair-use policies)	~$55–$65	The most popular option in urban/suburban areas; offers a good balance of speed and cost; bundle options with TV/phone are common.
Telco (Fiber/DSL)	~100–200 Mbps (fiber often delivers symmetrical speeds)	Typically unlimited or very high data limits	~$60–$70	Fiber plans (e.g., Verizon Fios, AT&T Fiber) are prized for reliability and speed; DSL remains common where fiber isn’t available.
Independent ISP	~50–150 Mbps	Varies, but often unlimited or high caps	~$50–$60	Smaller regional providers often offer competitive pricing and personalized service; plan details can be more tailored.
Fixed Wireless	~25–50 Mbps	Often moderate data caps (e.g., 250 GB/month) or unlimited with speed throttling	~$50–$60	Frequently used in rural or underserved areas; installation can be simpler and faster; speeds may vary with weather and line-of-sight conditions.
Mobile Broadband	Varies (commonly 10–30 Mbps when used as a home hotspot)	Often included as part of an unlimited smartphone plan or separate data allotment	~$55–$65	Purchased as a hotspot or integrated into a mobile plan; flexibility for on-the-go usage, but performance depends on network congestion and coverage.

And estimates vary dramatically when bundled service costs are considered. Where the estimated cost of a cable TV stand-alone service might be between $55 and $65 a month for 100 Mbps service, that same service might “cost” only about $30 to $40 a month when purchased as part of a bundle. 

Platform	Estimated Broadband Cost Portion	Notes
Cable TV	~$30–$40/month	Cable bundles often offer broadband at a discounted rate compared to standalone options, as the service is cross-subsidized by TV/phone components.
Telco (Fiber/DSL)	~$35–$45/month	Fiber bundles tend to emphasize higher speeds and reliability; the broadband portion may carry a slight premium compared to cable but still remains competitively priced in a bundle.
Fixed Wireless	~$30–$40/month	Often offered in rural or underserved regions, these bundles provide broadband at rates similar to cable bundles, though speed and data policies can vary.
Mobile Broadband	~$30–$40/month	When integrated into smartphone or home hotspot bundles, the effective broadband cost is often reduced as part of multi-line or data-centric deals.

Good Outcomes Beat Good Intentions: How Dumb Are We?

Good intentions clearly are not enough when designing policies to improve home broadband availability in underserved areas. In fact, since 2021, more than three years after its passage, the U.S. Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program has yet to install a single new connection.  

It seems we were determined to make the perfect the enemy of the good, preventing construction until we mostly were certain our maps were accurate. A rival approach would have proceeded on the assumption that residents and service providers pretty much know where they have facilities and where they do not; where an upgrade can be conducted fast and easily, and where it cannot. 

And perhaps (despite the clear industry participant interests that always seem to influence our decisions) we should not have insisted on the “fastest speed” platforms. Maybe we’d have prioritized “good enough” connections that could be supplied really fast and enabled the outcomes we were looking for (getting the unconnected connected; getting the underserved facilities that do not impede their use of internet apps). 

This is not, to use the phrase, “rocket science.” We have known for many decades that “good enough” home broadband can be supplied fast, and affordably, if we use satellite (geostationary or low earth orbit, but particularly now LEO) or wireless to enable the connections. 

To those who say we need to supply fiber to the home, some of us might argue the evidence suggests relatively-lower speed (such as 100 Mbps downstream) connections supply all the measurable upside we seek, for homework, shopping, telework. The touted gigabit-per-second or multi-gigabit-per-second connections are fine, but there is very little evidence consumers can even use that much bandwidth. 

Study/Source	Key Findings
Distinguishing Bandwidth and Latency in Households' Willingness to Pay for Broadband Internet Speed (2017)	Consumers value increasing bandwidth from 10 to 25 Mbps at about $24 per month, but the additional value of increasing from 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps is only $19. This suggests diminishing returns for speeds beyond 100 Mbps.
Are you overpaying for internet speeds you don't need? (2025)	Research indicates that many Australians are overspending on high-speed internet connections they don't need. Most households can manage well with a 50 Mbps plan unless they engage in high-bandwidth tasks like 4K streaming or online gaming.
Simple broadband mistake costing 9.5 million households up to £113 extra a year (2024)	Millions of UK households are overpaying for broadband by purchasing higher speeds than necessary. Smaller households often need speeds up to 15 Mbps but pay for over 150 Mbps, wasting £113 annually.
ITIF (2023)	- US broadband speeds outpace everyday demands - Only 9.1% of households choose to adopt 250/25 Mbps speeds when available - Clear inflection point past 100 Mbps where consumers no longer see value in higher speeds
ITIF (2020)	- Average existing connections comfortably handle more than typical applications require - A household with 5 people streaming 4K video simultaneously only needs 2/3 of current average tested speed - Research shows reaching a critical threshold of basic broadband penetration is more important for economic growth than faster speeds
European Research (2020)	- Full fiber networks are not worth the costs - Partial, not full end-to-end fiber-based broadband coverage entails the largest net benefits
US Broadband Data Analysis	- Compared to normal-speed broadband, faster broadband did not generate greater positive effects on employment
OpenVault Q3 2024 Report	- Average US household uses 564 Mbps downstream and 31 Mbps upstream - Speeds around 500 Mbps sufficient for most families
FCC Guidelines	- 100-500 Mbps is enough for 1-2 people to run videoconferencing, streaming, and online gaming simultaneously - 500-1000 Mbps suitable for 3 or more people with high bandwidth needs

We might all agree that, where it is feasible, fiber to home makes the most long-term sense. But we might also agree that where we want useful home broadband speeds, right now, everywhere, with performance that enables remote work, homework, online shopping and all other internet apps, then any platform delivering 100 Mbps (more for multi-user households, but likely not more than 500 Mbps even in the most-challenging use cases) will do the job, right now. 

Good intentions really are not enough. Good outcomes are what we seek. And that often means designing programs that we can implement fast, at lower cost, with wider impact, immediately or nearly so. “Better” platforms that cost more and are not built are hardly better.

Many Consumers Will Always Buy "Good Enough Value" Home Broadband

Some question the long-term viability of 5G fixed wireless services, arguing that, eventually, it will prove unable to compete with ever-higher capacities supplied by cabled networks, especially fiber to home platforms. 

Supporters might make the case that “eventually” is the key phrase, as the market potential for fixed wireless between “today” and “tomorrow” is likely to be quite extended. At the moment, perhaps 51 percent or 52 percent of all U.S. homes or dwelling units have service available from at least one provider. 

By 2030 that percentage might increase to 76 percent to 80 percent. 

At the moment, perhaps 10 percent to 15 percent of U.S. homes have FTTH service available from at least two providers, growing to possibly 30 percent to 40 percent by 2030. 

For starters, FTTH is expensive enough that no single service provider can afford to build new networks ubiquitously, even if the customer demand is present. By some estimates, the cost to pass one urban home might be just $1,000, but the cost to pass suburban locations might range up to $3200, while rural passings can easily cost $7,000 or more. 

Area Type	Density	Estimated Cost per Home/Passing
Metropolitan	High	$1,000
Suburb (Flat Terrain)	Medium	$2,700
Suburb (Hilly Terrain)	Medium	$3,240
Rural (Flat Terrain)	Low	$6,300
Rural (Hilly)	Low	$7,000

And that is construction cost only, not including the cost to activate an account, which can add costs between $300 to $500 for each install. 

An equally-important issue is the take rate for such networks. It has been common for any new FTTH provider that is a telco to get up to 40 percent take rates over a few years, with initial uptake in the 20-percent range, often. Independent ISPs competing with both cable operators and a telco might expect take rates not exceeding 20 percent (where the cable operator can offer gigabit service and the telco does not offer FTTH). 

So the longer-term issue is how big the market might be for wireless service offering speeds in the lower ranges (100 Mbps to 200 Mbps now; undoubtedly higher speeds in the future), as more fiber access is available. To the extent that fixed wireless is taking market share from cable operators (perhaps even operators able to sell gigabit-per-second connections), we can infer that a substantial portion of the market is happy to pay the prevailing rates for access at such speeds, especially when able to bundle home broadband with their mobile access services. 

When comparing fixed wireless to either cable modem or FTTH service, many consumers might not be especially interested in services operating the 500-Mbps and faster ranges, much less gigabit ranges, when the slower speeds cost less. 

But demand will continue to shift over time, with most consumers eventually buying services operating faster than 200 Mbps, and in many instances much faster than 200 Mbps (gigabit to multi-gigabit ranges, for example). To be sure, fixed wireless providers are likely to find ways to increase their speed tiers as well, beyond 200 Mbps in the future, even if virtually all observers suggest wireless will continue to lag cabled networks in terms of speed. 

Speed Tier Take Rates, in Percentage	2023	2030	2040
Less than 100 Mbps	20-30	5-10	1-2
100 Mbps to 200 Mbps	30-40	10-20	5-10
Faster than 200 Mbps	30-40	70-80	85-90

Perhaps the best analogy is what cable operators have been able to do with their hybrid fiber coax networks, boosting speeds over time. 

Keep in mind that cable networks and FTTH networks back around 2000 were only offering top speeds in the 10-Mbps range. Fixed wireless networks also will be able to increase speeds over time, if never on the scale of cabled networks. 

Year	Typical Cable Operator Maximum Speed
1996	1.5 Mbps
Early 2000s	10 Mbps
Late 2000s	50 Mbps
2010	100 Mbps
2015	300 Mbps
2016	1 Gbps
2024	2 Gbps

But absolute ability to match cabled network speeds is not the question. The issue is what percentage of customers will, in the future, be willing to buy fixed wireless home broadband, at then-prevailing speeds, prices and offers.